In India, millions clamour for their own state after ruling party endorses a 29th state

A Bodo student with painted face shouts as hundreds of thousands of Bodo tribals gather, demanding the creation of a new state of Bodoland during a mass rally at Ghoramara in Somitpur district of Assam state, India.

By:Nirmala GeorgeThe Associated Press, Published on Wed Sep 04 2013

NEW DELHI—India, a nation of 1.2 billion people, has just 28 states. So when the populous country’s ruling coalition endorsed a 29th state last month, millions of people who have felt ignored and marginalized had the same reaction: Why not us?

Demands for more than two dozen new states have burst into mutinous life, and the strikes and protests could redraw India’s political map. Many of the protestors are living far from their state capital.

In West Bengal state, for example, tens of thousands of indigenous Gorkhas demanding their own state — Gorkhaland — have barricaded streets in Darjeeling, the town best known for its prized tea gardens. Strikes have shut down businesses. Police arrested dozens of activists and clamped a curfew in the worst-hit districts last week.

There are no immediate signs of widespread instability, but the localized rumblings could deflect government attention from its most pressing task: improving the struggling Indian economy.

It’s unclear whether the ruling coalition will accept more states. Even the proposal it endorsed, for carving the state of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh state, is a long way from implementation.

India has always been a political patchwork of astonishingly diverse humanity. Since independence from Britain in 1947, the sprawling country of different religions, distinct cultures and hundreds of languages has been bound together into a cohesive if chaotic democracy.

The Indian system gives broad power to states, which were drawn broadly along linguistic lines, most of them by a state reorganization commission in the mid-1950s. But many states are so large they have become difficult to govern, leaving politically marginalized regions out of India’s economic boom.

Some larger states have already been split apart, most recently with the creation of three new states in 2000.

Telangana would be composed of the mostly poor, inland districts of Andhra Pradesh state. While its people are ethnically the same as most in Andhra Pradesh, they have long felt ignored by a state government that appeared to divert most resources to the more prosperous southern and coastal districts. For years, the region has had violent protests and hunger strikes.

People in Telangana celebrated when New Delhi backed the creation of the new state, but the decision also triggered counterprotests from supporters of a united Andhra Pradesh. A key point of contention is that the proposed Telangana would include Hyderabad, a wealthy IT and industrial hub.

In New Delhi, angry lawmakers on both sides of the Telangana debate repeatedly disrupted the lower house of parliament this week, and nine parliamentarians were suspended.

The abrupt decision on Telangana by the Congress party, the most powerful member of the ruling coalition, was made with next year’s general elections in mind, but it has given new life to other longstanding demands for new states based on ethnic or linguistic lines.

Claimants to more than two dozen potential states feel their demands now stand a greater chance of success. Aside from Telangana, however, the government has answered most demands for new states by suggesting exploratory talks but making no commitments.

The demand for smaller states is spurred by hopes that they would bring more government funds and better governance. Political analysts say past attempts to create smaller states have paid off with higher economic growth.

Behind the scenes are the corrupt politicians and hangers-on anticipating the money that flows when entire state governments are created.